By Jake Donovan

Undefeated middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero was forced to climb off of the canvas to outlast veteran trialhorse Ishe Smith over ten rounds on Friday evening at the Desoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi.

Scores were 96-93, 95-93 and 97-91 for the main event of a Showtime-televised tripleheader.

After a dull first round in which neither fighter threw – much less landed – much of anything, action picked up in the second. Guerrero was the busier fighter throughout the round – almost always the case for anyone facing Smith in a notable fight. Smith scored with several body shots and also occasional right hands, but none of which were enough to offset Guerrero’s busier and more effective workrate.

Smith nearly lost his composure in the third after twice being warned by referee Randy Phillips (who worked all three televised bouts) for straying too low with his body punches. Smith not only disagreed but was in no mood to hear out the third man, turning his back both times he was warned for low blows.

Trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad did his best to calm down Smith, instructing him to ignore the warnings and continue to target the body. However, it was Guerrero who dialed in with his body attack, landing with both hands and also coming up top with straight lefts from the southpaw stance while Smith’s activity level dramatically decreased.

Despite picking up the work rate, more was demanded of Guerrero by head trainer Barry Hunter. Like any good student would, Guerrero willingly obliged, literally running off of his stool to start the fifth.

Guerrero threw what had to average out to more than a punch per second, forcing Smith to come out of his envelope. Including in the veteran’s attack were three shots over two separate occasions that strayed very low, though the referee allowed the action to continue without taking a point.

After taking a shellacking in the previous round, Smith picked up the pace considerably in the sixth round. Guerrero was still outworking the veteran, but Smith definitely caught his attention with several right hands and body shots. A few more landed south of the border, with referee Randy Phillips trying his hardest to let the fighters fight before finally having to deduct a point from Smith’s tally on the cards.

To his credit, Smith maintained his cool well enough to turn things around in the seventh, outworking Guerrero over the final minute of the round. Consecutive right hands upstairs forced Guerrero to throw up the earmuffs and suddenly stop punching back, though he went right back to popping the stick to start the eighth.

The flurry of jabs early on allowed Guerrero to establish distance and box at his leisure. Smith was landing the more telling blows, although it required more work to get inside. As the saying goes, hard work pays off as Smith turned things around big time with a right hand that landed on Guerrero’s right temple to shockingly floor the Dominican at the end of the round.

Action heated up considerably in the ninth, with both fighters digging deep and not giving an inch. Smith was landing by far the more telling blows, while Guerrero struggled to find a way to turn things around.

The same pattern held true for the first half of the final round – Guerrero looking to flurry, Smith standing his ground and landing the more convincing blows. Guerrero put more behind his shots towards the end of the round, realizing what he was offering wasn’t anywhere nearly enough to keep Smith off of him. The fight ended in fitting fashion, with both fighters trading until the final bell.

In the end, it appeared that the judges favored work rate over aggression. That Guerrero was awarded the victory was hardly questionable, though the manner in which they were scored easily draws attention to how the Mississippi Athletic Commission conducts business.

The same officials were used for all three televised matches and regressed as the night went on. The opening bout of the telecast was fairly scored, but questions were raised in the co-feature and especially the main event, in which a case could be made for Smith winning or at the very least making things damn interesting.

Not so said the three judges, giving Guerrero an absurdly wide decision as he improves to 19-0 (15KO) in surviving the stiffest challenge of a career that’s only 2 ½ years old.

Scoring issues aside, Guerrero’s performance is to be commended. Even more than preserving his undefeated record, the transplanted Dominican dedicated the fight to two deceased former members of his hometown of Salisbury, MD – Sam Vincent and Marshall Moore.

Smith’s performance wasn’t dedicated to anyone in particular, just his latest effort to keep his career afloat. While the win once again eluded him, he certainly fought well – and exciting – enough to earn future televised opportunities, a change of pace from the all-too often suggested whispers that his fighting style isn’t fit for prime time.

What the Vegas native is in dire need of is a check mark in the win column. His spirited effort was ultimately all for naught, dropping his second straight as he falls to 21-5 (9KO).

TELEVISED UNDERCARD

Shawn Porter (16-0, 12KO) survived the toughest test of his career in scoring a 10-round unanimous decision over Ray Robinson (11-2, 4KO) in their televised co-feature. Scores were 97-92, 98-91 and 99-89, none of which were in line with what was in reality a competitive two-way battle. Porter scored a knockdown in the sixth round, but was unable to close the show.

In a battle of undefeated prospects to open the telecast, Mike Dallas Jr. started strong and rode out a late rally by Lanard Lane to take a well-earned unanimous decision. Scores were 78-74 across the board. Lane struggled with distance early and closed the gap in the final two rounds, but it was too little, too late.

Full recap can be found here: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=29318

The televised tripleheader was presented by Prize Fight Boxing.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.